43. Mrs Robinson – Lemonheads

Glebe. How do you explain that? For a small parcel of time, it just seemed to be the coolest place in the world, although to look at it now, as a fancy inner city, middle class neighbourhood, it’s just baffling. It circled around Half a Cow records (and the Valhalla, which was easily the coolest cinema in Sydney for years, and maybe Gleebooks), whose owner joined the Lemonheads on bass just as Evan Dando became the indie world’s official heart throb, and boom.

I wasn’t a big fan of them (well, of him really), although I had a soft spot for Bit Part in Your Life, and I’ve got to admit this just rattles along, justifying some of the hype. And it still holds up, which is nice. And I do like that Nick went back to running his shop and label, giving so many local bands the chance to make a record (most notably Smudge, who had possibly the greatest album name ever: You, Me, Carpark, Now), and probably just have a great life.

I remember going in to the shop once and feeling such a geek, because all those cool record shops used to trade on making you feel unworthy: he was actually behind the counter, looked up and said “hey, let me know if you want any help” and went back to chatting with his mate. I bought a bunch of records and comics and took them over, and as he flicked through them to add it up he said “nice choices: I love this one” and I floated out the door and all the way home.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvMFm5nKeUc